


Don't Impress Me Too Much

by EmeraldSage



Series: The Holiday Collection [20]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Both Legal Now, Family Dinners, Family Drama, Implicit Sexual Relationship, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Past Underage, Prompt Day 20: Family Dinner, Protective Arthur, Protective Mattie, RusAmeHoliday, Secret Relationship, small age difference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-10 13:53:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8919610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldSage/pseuds/EmeraldSage
Summary: RusAme Holiday Prompt #20: Family DinnerFire, meet kerosene.  FWOOSH, BOOM!It's not actually as dramatic as it sounds (I think...)





	

**Author's Note:**

> I think the summary says it all.  
> [but in any case: enjoy]

            The giggling was probably what tipped him off, now that he’d thought about it.

            He’d been giggling – _laughing_ he would insist when his boyfriend pressed that word against his lips – as Ivan mimicked the characters in the cheesy romance novel they were roasting together with these absolutely _ridiculous_ character voices. Their evening together had begun, as many of them had started, with Ivan climbing through the window, entwining together on the window seat, and making out. Their relationship had by far progressed from simple make-out sessions and heavy petting – there was a box of condoms and lube that he hid in the false bottom of one of his t-shirt drawers, well aware that his underwear drawer was the first place his father checked – but on the evenings when most of Alfred’s family was home, they kept it simple. They saw each other enough – had been in a relationship long enough – that sex wasn’t an all consuming, burning desire that had to be fulfilled every time they saw each other. They’d grown with that desire, and though they loved sex (both in general, and with each other specifically) they had a relationship that existed outside of it.

            But, well…Alfred was _still_ a teenage boy, and he had _needs_ , goddamnit!

            _Anyways_ , after making out a bit, Alfred had adjusted himself comfortably in Ivan’s lap and they’d just relaxed for a bit. He loved this part the most, to be honest. There was a gentle aura of contentment that would embrace them, just as surely and as warmly as one of Ivan’s hugs. Discounting the warm winter mornings he and his brother would spend wrapped between their parents on their bed when they’d been younger – and even _thinking_ about that now was extremely weird – he didn’t think he’d ever felt safer than he did when Ivan wrapped his arms around him. Ivan trusted him to protect himself, but as the older, sometimes stronger – that was always a debate between them – and definitely more imposing half of their whole, he made it very clear to Alfred that there was no doubt he’d protect him if it ever was necessary. He’d made good on his promises too, when Alfred had been subject to vicious bullying for getting into a high-level, NASA sponsored space program a year ago.

            After they were both feeling relaxed, the activities after that often differed. Sometimes, they would separate and play games. Whether it was cards – Alfred crushed Ivan on poker, easily – or chess – where Alfred could definitely not say the same – they loved playing with each other (and no, that was _not_ a pun; get your minds out of the gutter). Other times, when they were feeling clingier, they would sit as they were now – with Alfred firmly in Ivan’s lap, sprawled halfway across the window seat as the other reclined against the wall of the small nook. They loved making fun of cheap romance novels, as some of them had the most _ridiculous_ way of writing erotic scenes that he couldn’t help but giggle – _laugh_ , he meant _laugh_. And, despite his best efforts, sometimes he could be rather loud when he was taking in the absolute silliness that some people came up with.

            So, really, it shouldn’t have been a surprise when his father pushed the door to his room open, mouth opening to demand what he was doing that was causing him to make such a racket, only to freeze. And then, of course, _they_ froze. His father’s green eyes stared at him, utterly stunned, before they moved upwards and _narrowed_ on Ivan behind him. Ivan, whose lap he was sitting in comfortably, who had an arm wrapped around his waist lovingly, possessively, and intimately familiar; who had an equally stunned look on his face, but one that was rapidly shifting to stoic just as his father’s expression took on an almost _demonic_ cast in its fury.

            _I forgot to lock the door_ , he thought distantly, only vaguely aware of how pale his face was getting, along with the rising level of hysteria that was threatening to break free.

            And then his father’s fury _exploded_.

* * *

            His hand reached up to adjust his plum dark tie for what had to be the fifth time in the last twenty minutes. He shifted nervously, pacing back and forth through his bedroom anxiety thrumming through his veins. He felt the silver of cufflinks press against his skin from where they’d been threaded through his pale, ice blue dress shirt. He kept glancing down to make sure his formal slacks hadn’t creased with all the pacing he was doing, and his shoes tapped a light staccato against the wooden part of the floor. He bit his lip and turned to the mirror again. Then, he reached up with his hand to adjust his tie.

            _Good God, what’s **wrong** with me!_

            Nothing, he told himself, taking a deliberately slow, calming breath to steady himself as he drew his hand away from the tie and back to his side. He crossed his arms behind his back, gripping them viciously. Nothing was wrong with him, but a _lot_ of things _could_ be if he wasn’t on his absolute best behavior tonight.

            It had been nearly a month since his father had caught him and Ivan together in his room, mocking trashy novels and relaxing in each other’s company. He thanked all the deities he knew and then some that they hadn’t been caught doing something _far_ more incriminating then what they had been, and that they’d been caught during Thanksgiving break. Once Ivan had gone back to college – and _boy_ , did his dad throw a fit when he heard about _that_ – things had calmed down a lot more than they would have if Ivan had been in town. His father was still absolutely, unquestionably _livid_ , but he’d had time to simmer down without the target of his abject rage being within driving distance. Well, with _one half_ of his target being absent, at least. While Ivan lived out on the West Coast, he wasn’t so fortunate.

            He’d been grounded the moment Ivan had vanished from his father’s sensing range. The moment Thanksgiving break ended, he’d been under strict supervision; a grounding of incomparable circumstances from those that came before it. His brother, who’d been off at college himself, and had come home the first week of December after finals, basically acted as a guard dog (and had taken the task on with startling vehemence once he was read into the situation). His brother dropped him off at school in the morning, his brother picked him up from his gymnastics team’s practice, his brother watched him with a hawk’s eye when he was doing his homework and college applications at the kitchen table, and the _only_ time he was left alone was when he was in his own room. And even then, he’d only been safe in his room because his father literally sealed the windows down from the outside so it was impossible to open the damned thing.

            Oh, and his father had _conveniently_ found a lock that locked a door from the _outside_.

            _Ring ring._ Hello, sanity, this is parenting gone _insane_. A little help, here? _Please_?!

            His father had even come in to steal away all his electronics – except for when he needed them for something school related (his father wouldn’t ever play around with his education, especially not so close to applying for college) – the day after the grounding had come into effect. The real surprise had been almost a week ago, when his father had come into his room, when he’d been moping on the window seat, with his fully charged cell phone in hand.

            _“Call him_ ,” _the elder man had said as he’d tossed him his phone. “Tell him to be here on Christmas Eve for a family dinner. We’ll assess him then. If he **is** serious about you, he’ll be here. If he’s not here, you’re not seeing him again. And I swear to the Lord himself that I’ll find a way to get him in court if he’s done **anything** to you that I can prove.”_

            From his father, the successful lawyer with his own practice and enough clout to run the entire city out of his own goodwill, that was _anything_ but an idle threat.

            Alfred was 18 _now_ , but he sure as hell hadn’t been when their relationship had started. And if his father disapproved _at all_ , he knew the man would easily find a way to prove it in court. He could swear up and down that Ivan had never touched him until he’d come of age – and since he was 18 now, there was little in the way of proof otherwise, and to be honest, it was _true_ – but his father was a cunning, _vicious_ man when what he loved was in danger. And if he thought Ivan was a threat to Alfred – he paused here to take into consideration the utter ridiculousness of that thought – then there would be nothing his father wouldn’t stoop to in making sure Ivan couldn’t threaten the younger ever again.

            So, good first impressions? Absolutely fucking necessary.

            The door knob twisted, and his brother stepped through, eyeing what had to be the absolutely terrified expression on his face, before moving closer and wrapping him in a hug, careless of either of their fine dress. His brother’s soft red dress shirt and pale white blazer and matching tie were a nice contrast to Alfred’s all icy blue and plump purple, but neither of them seemed to care when Matt wrapped his younger brother in a firm hug, feeling him slump into the embrace gratefully.

            “You’ll be fine,” he heard his brother whisper to him, “You’ll both be fine.” He hiccupped softly into Matt’s dress shirt, hearing his brother huff in amusement.

            “What if Daddy doesn’t like him,” he mumbled, confidence completely shot, completely unlike himself, “What if he takes him to court Mattie? He didn’t do anything wrong!”

            Matthew raised a brow at his younger brother, fully aware of how sexually active his younger brother was, and said as much. Alfred set his face in a glare, and a stubborn pout, “We didn’t do _anything_ until I turned 18, damnit,” he glared at his brother’s passively amused face, “If he gets busted for something, let it be for something he actually _did_.”

            “That’s good to know,” a voice drawled from the doorway, and he nearly cracked his neck with how fast his gaze shot to the vaguely amused form of his father leaning against his bedroom door. His father, like him and Mattie, was dressed formally for the family dinner. He was grateful he’d had the chance to tell Ivan about the dress code, otherwise their not-so-first impression would tank before it even had a chance. “I’m not even going to go into the fact that you were sexually active before you turned 18, otherwise I wouldn’t be leaving the room without a list of names and the Sheriff on speed dial. Basch owes me a favor, anyways.” His father paused to roll his eyes, and he took a second to be grateful his father was apparently in a relatively good mood…or, at least, not in an _I live to make people’s lives miserable, and do so gleefully_ mood.

            The door bell rang in the split second before his father could say anything more, and all three of them tensed and glanced down at the floor, where they could hear – based on the swearing – most likely Uncle Alistair, who’d been helping _papa_ with food, get up to answer the door.

            “Well,” his father sighed after a beat, eyes stern once more as he glanced over the two of them, lingering specifically on Alfred with particular meaning in his eye, “look sharp then. Time to get started.” Then he slipped away, and they listened to his footsteps echo down the stairs before, with one last hug, they made to follow him down.

            Uncle Alistair directed them both to the dining room before they could enter the foyer, and by the sound of things, it was because they didn’t want him interrupting their introductions. He could hear Ivan’s voice introducing himself to his father and his _papa_ in the entryway, and his heart soared. There was a reluctantly impressed tone that colored his father’s voice, despite the disapproval that was achingly clear. His _papa_ ’s tone was warm regardless. The elder blond could never say no to a true love story.

            In what seemed like seconds after he’d settled on the table, the chair next to him pulled back, and suddenly Ivan was there. He couldn’t help the beam that he sent towards the older man, nor how his tension eased at the warm smile that was returned to him. Was it possible to miss someone as much as he had missed this man? Even with Ivan away at college, they’d always remained in contact with each other. The past month had been something like torture.

            His father cleared his throat, and all eyes turned to him as green eyes bore down on the young foreigner in his home. “Ivan Braginsky, hmm?” he hummed, “Astrophysics, was it?” he asked, as if he hadn’t drilled his son in everything about the other man.

            “ _Da_ ,” the budding scientist said, “I’m in my third year of Astrophysics and Thermonuclear Engineering. It’s a paired subject at my university.” That drew raised eyebrows across the table.

            “Does that come with a career?” his father drawled, as his _papa_ disappeared into the kitchen to drag out the food before his husband got _too_ into his interrogation.

            “It does,” Ivan said firmly, to Alfred’s surprise; this was the first time he was hearing about this. “I was recently offered a research position at NASA upon the conclusion of my university studies, and a scholarship on the basis that I continue onto my mastery, which I have every intention of doing.”

            Alfred’s father snorted, and green eyes gleamed, reluctantly approving, before he said, “Don’t impress me too much, boy. I don’t think you’re ready for that, yet,” in a tone that shone light through the heart of his anxiety.

            Things were going to be fine.

            Ivan gripped his hand in his own underneath the table under the guise of adjusting his napkin as his _papa_ walked back into the room, expression impressed like he’d heard everything, and he exhaled softly, tension relaxing slightly.

            They were going to be _fine_.


End file.
